A Democratic Socialist Blog

Poverty

Nearly 50 million people are living in poverty in the United States. This was the dire news delivered eight days after the presidential election in a report from the US Census Bureau.Donate. 97 million workers working full-time, 5.1 percent—or about 5 million people—lived in poverty. The poverty rate among the estimated 46.7 million part-time workers was a staggering 18.5 percent—or about 8.6 million people This is due to the lack of a Living wage and Universal Income. Not to mention people are paid way below scale.The new report’s declares which factor in expenses and government-provided benefits, and providing a accurate and tru assessment of US poverty. Based on data from 2011, three full years into Obama’s first term,T he sharp growth of poverty, homelessness and hunger in America over the past four years is the result not simply of economic forces. It is above all the a drive to utilize the crisis to lay siege to the living standards and democratic rights of the working class as part of an ol;d atnndard for class Warfare. The multitrillion-dollar bailout of the banks on the one side, and the reduction of wages, pensions, health care and working conditions on the other—inaugurated by Obama’s wage-cutting restructuring of the auto industry are to be intensified and combined with an attack on social welfare programs and public expenses.For those without jobs, the situation was even grimmer. Of these, fully a third were living in poverty. And with the agreement of Obama and Congress, federally funded extended unemployment benefits are set to expire in January, depriving 2 million jobless workers of cash assistance and plunging even more households into poverty. In NJ the Jobless rate is 14%The mythical “American dream lie” has become a nightmare. And many are still foolish enough to believe in it yet.This seems to become acceptable under the profit system and the political domination of two parties controlled by the financial aristocracy. Myths surrounding the cause of poverty in the U.S. are held by a large portion of Conservative (And even liberal) Americans, . There are those who believe that criminality, mental illness or drug addictions are a cause of poverty. In some cases this is true, but often, these problems are a direct result of chronic poverty, rather than the cause.Another myth about the cause of poverty is inferiority, race, or intelligence. Consistently, studies have disproved the Darwinist theories, which purport that the poor are genetically inferior people, possessing deviant characteristics such as laziness, dishonesty and degenerate values, and that these characteristics are the cause of their economic condition.Work and jobs are not the only answer. Perhaps, Worker owned Co—ops, and other alternative economics need to be sought. And the Universal Income.In Europe, Nobody The EYG nor the youth or the society – is served by having young people dumped at the sideline of society. A European Youth Guarantee shall ensure that every young person in Europe is offered a new job, further education or work-focused training at the latest four months after leaving education or after being unemployed.The economic crisis facing Europe has hit young people hard. Over one in five young people in Europe are unemployed at this moment. In some countries as many as one young person out of two cannot find a job. 14 million European citizens between the age of 15-29 are neither working, studying nor in trainee service. Your future is my future – A European Youth Guarantee Now”, will be officially launched later in the spring and will promote the Youth Guarantee as a ‘new social contract’ for young people. It is based on existing schemes in Austria and Finland where national agencies step in to help young people after 4 months of unemployment. Youth unemployment costs Europe 100 billion euro every year. A guarantee would cost only 10 billion euro and the EU funds which could be used have been identified.
Philippe Van Paijs writes: I am convinced, along with many others in Europe, that–far from being utopian–a UBI makes common sense in the current context of the European Union.1 As Brazilian senator Eduardo Suplicy has argued, it is also relevant to less-developed countries–not only because it helps keep alive the remote promise of a high level of social solidarity without the perversity of high unemployment, but also because it can inspire and guide more modest immediate reforms.2 And if a UBI makes sense in Europe and in less developed countries, why should it not make equally good (or perhaps better) sense in North America?3